1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to surveillance technology, and more specifically to methods for identifying subjects based on analysis of surveillance data.
2. Description of Related Art
Video surveillance has been a common security technology for many years. Video is not only helpful in monitoring current activity in sensitive locations but has also been successfully employed in helping to solve crimes by helping law enforcement authorities identify suspects.
When attempting to identify criminal suspects, law enforcement authorities usually do not have access to video surveillance records until a significant amount of time has elapsed after the crime. Therefore, video records are use primarily for solving crimes after the fact, rather than intercepting suspects during the act or shortly afterwards.
Currently, law enforcement officers are limited in the amount of real-time information they can access during the commission of a crime. For example, during a bank robbery, authorities might be alerted to the crime by activation of an alarm. Officers might also receive a description of the suspects from eye witnesses after the crime or even during (e.g., eye witness giving description over a telephone). However, eye witness descriptions are notoriously unreliable because most civilians are not trained observers. Currently, video surveillance data is not broadcast directly to law enforcement authorities.
By relying on the above methods, law enforcement authorities do not have access to reliable images or descriptions during the commission of the crime, thereby impairing their ability to identify and intercept suspects.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a method for identifying criminal suspects by means of video surveillance and broadcasting this identification information to law enforcement authorities in real time.